Leopard on ICRISAT campus captured

Hyderabad: Four months after it was spotted inside the ICRISAT complex here, a leopard that was on the prowl has been finally caught, forest officials said Wednesday.

Though the leopard disappeared in April last week from the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) campus on the city outskirts, it was again sighted a fortnight ago.

Following this, Forest officials launched an operation to capture and safely relocate the wild animal. The male leopard, 7-8 years old, weighing over 65 kg was captured on Tuesday night when it came to eat the goat kept as bait in a cage.

Subsequently, it was tranquilised to evaluate its health and then shifted to the Nehru Zoological Park here where three veterinarians examined it and found the animal in good health, senior forest official A Shankaran said.

Security personnel at the ICRISAT had spotted the leopard in February first week and informed forest officials, who as part of the operation had then set up 40 cameras at key locations and set up four cages with bait in the campus. However, the leopard avoided the cages and by April last week had disappeared.

It suddenly reappeared 15 days ago and again cameras and trap cages were installed, Shankaran said. "We are waiting for orders of the Chief Wildlife Warden to release the leopard in good forest area, he said. The leopard is suspected to have ventured from a forest area of Vikarabad district into the campus, officials said.

In a similar incident reported in August 2014, a leopard, which had strayed into the complex, had been trapped and relocated.